Lost Dogs - Pearl Moon (hooverville Camp 1932) lyrics

rate me

I said, “Have we sinned for something we don’t know

about?

Does hunger have a lesson to teach?”

As the silver moon shined like a pearl of great price

Driftin’ over our heads out of reach

Someone said,” In California every which way you turn

You can pluck a fat orange from a tree

And there’s plenty of work

And good wages to earn

And an end to our misery”

Then the coyotes cried

“Hooverville!”

And the lonesome wind sighed

“Hooverville”

And the pearl moon tried

To turn the tide

But those voices still cried

“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

I said, “It’s wisest to cross the desert by night

So’s we best be leavin’ soon”

Ma said, “But our jalopy won’t start and I’m losin’

heart

This place could become our tomb”

And the great pearl drifted in the western sky

Then weakened in the first light of dawn

We worked under the hood

But it did us no good

And the moon she kept rolling along

Then the coyotes cried

“Hooverville!”

And the lonesome wind sighed

“Hooverville”

And the pearl moon tried

To turn the tide

But those voices still cried

“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

We vowed to stay strong when she took ghostly form

And the phantom moon faded away

Vanished in the fire of the harshest of suns

And the heat of those ruinous days

Then we prayed she’d come back and believed in the

chances

That old engine would crank back into life

And we’d catch that moon tangled in those orange tree

branches

And lay hold of the pearl of great price

Then the night came again

“Hooverville!”

Sighed the lonesome wind

“Hooverville”

Again the moon tried

To turn the tide

But our babies died

And all of us cried

“Hooverville! Hooverville!”

And our babies died

And our babies died

And our babies died